The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for controlling a recording device receiving commercial broadcasts. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for eliminating commercials from recorded television broadcasts.
A recurring theme among those who use a video cassette recorder (VCR) for recording typical television broadcasts is that recordings of desired broadcasts are interspersed with undesirable commercials or advertisements. Depending upon the timeliness of the commercials or the delay between the recording of the programming material and its subsequent viewing by the user, some or all of the commercial material may be outdated and inappropriate for viewing. Additionally, recording commercials interspersed within a television broadcast requires more recording tape than would be required without recording the unwanted material.
The prior art provides a number of solutions to users trying to overcome the problem of recording a television broadcast without recording the interspersed commercial segments. Some solutions in the prior art are geared to individual users by incorporating automatic commercial detection features directly into a VCR. The automatic detection features are not always accurate and can result in improperly identifying a commercial as program material and the program as a commercial, resulting in misrecording the program and only recording unwanted commercials. Additionally, some of the solutions are not available to owners of VCRs that do not have the features built-in.